


Variations on Life and Love

by kirkfan2255 (Toadflame)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 10 Song Challenge, Alternate Universe, Angst, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Other, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 03:33:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9158281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toadflame/pseuds/kirkfan2255
Summary: Love doesn't come in the same form, the same universe, or even at all.  Life works rather the same way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Does anyone else remember the 10 Song Challenge? Wait, what do you mean no? I...oh.
> 
> Er.
> 
> Anyway, my age showing aside, the rules are as follows:  
> 1\. Pick your fandom, pairing, and/or character  
> 2\. Put your music on shuffle and start playing songs  
> 3\. For each song, write something inspired by the song. Do not skip songs. You only have the length of the song to write - no preplanning, no writing past the end of the song, and no skipping!  
> 4\. Do 10 songs and post. Be sure to include the name of the song for each ficlet!
> 
> I, clearly, chose Yuri!!! on ICE for my challenge. I...might’ve started it on accident. Oops. Regardless, it's the first thing I've written and posted in a good year, so if I'm rusty, that'd be why.
> 
> Please also let me know if you spot any errors - I've proofread this but I still make plenty of mistakes :)

**1\. Isle of Flightless Birds - Twenty One Pilots**

Falling.

Not the most accurate way to describe what was happening, but that’s what it felt like.  Weightless, his sense of direction nearly impossible to redefine.  He floated aimlessly, eyes shut tightly against the outside world.

He thought of his homeworld, of Earth’s beautiful beaches and lush grass.  Of trickling waterfalls, freshly fallen snow, the first cherry blossoms of spring.

He imagined them, sharp and as if he were there.  The smell of salt in the air, and the sounds of birds.  Funny how he’d never really thought about them as a kid, but now, now…

There was a faint beep, a reminder of the dwindling air available to him.  No one was coming; no one knew where he was.

He was light-headed, from the lack of oxygen and from the knowledge of his imminent death.  But that was okay.  It made the sensation more real.  More like flying.

Eyes fluttered open, staring sightlessly at the world around him.  Up here, without an atmosphere distorting his vision, he could see millions of stars, backdrops of color and clouds that rivalled anything his mind could dream up from his Earthen memories.  He drank it in.  If this was his last vision, it was a good one.

Something was coming out of the distance.

Yuuri closed his eyes, breath shallow, without hope.

 

**2\. Miracle Mile - Cold War Kids**

Biellmann spin.  Hold it, hold it…

His foot slipped from under him, sending him crashing to the ice.

“Fuck!”  Yuri slammed his hand against the surface under him, regretting it briefly as pain flared.  He knew how to do it, he did!  Why couldn’t he do it?

Yuri pushed himself up, glaring at some of the younger skaters as they watched him with wide eyes.  “Yeah, that’s right,” he snarled, skating over to the edge to shake himself out.

“Yuri.”

Otabek stood at the edge, gloves on and holding a tissue box.  Yuri grabbed one, blowing his nose noisily.

“I used to be able to hold that for five minutes, and now I’m having trouble holding it for five seconds,” he growled.  “Beka, what’s wrong with me?!”

The Kazakh man gave a minute shrug.  “Well, you are almost 26 now,” he said.  “You’re not nearly as flexible at that age.”

 

**3\. Breezeblocks - Alt-J**

There were scratches in the countertop.

Viktor stared at him, eyes wide and hands trembling.  “Yuuri?” he asked, weakly, quietly.  Yuuri glanced up for only a second before staring back at the tile floor, wincing.

“It’s nothing,” he said, fist clenching.  “I’m fine.”

“It’s not nothing!”  Yuuri jumped when Viktor slammed the countertop.  “You’re hurt!  You slipped and fell and you’re hurt.  Let me help.”

Yuuri looked up at him.  “Viktor,” he said, staring at his husband.  “I slipped on the wet tile and fell.  I’m fine.  Nothing’s broken.”

“Still.”  Viktor knelt down and kissed him gently.  “Falls hurt, on or off the ice.”

 

**4\. Colors - Halsey**

The weeks after the Grand Prix Final were like he was walking through a fog.

Yuuri couldn’t remember the first few days - no responsibilities and no training meant that he hadn’t, honestly, left his room if he didn’t have to.  He vaguely remembered Phichit coming in and making him eat something, but even that was a blur, the food tasteless and bland.  His posters of Viktor had been - carefully, because even heartbroken, he refused to destroy them - taken off the walls, and they looked bare and gray.

Everything seemed bare and gray, now that he thought about it.

Yuuri stared down at his skates, like they’d done him a personal wrong, glaring until they blurred from how far his eyes were squeezed shut.  He let out a breath, and closed his eyes.

Then, his phone buzzed.

_VIKTOR NIKIFOROV TAKES GOLD AT RUSSIAN NATIONALS_ , the alert said.  Yuuri looked at the picture, staring.

Suddenly, the picture alongside it grew into the beautiful magenta and gold he remembered from the Final, took on a life and color and suddenly he could _breathe_ because if there was one thing that might help him get his love for skating back, it was what brought him into skating in the first place.

Yuuri grabbed his ice skates and ran out of his room.

 

**5\. I’m Only Joking - Kongos**

The cries of seagulls rang in his ears as he ran.  Blood pounded in his ears, and minor shocks ran up his legs from the impact of his feet.  He ran, ran, _ran_.

Ahead, on a bike, Viktor cheerily waved to everyone they passed, delighted as always by the charm of the sleepy coastal town.  Makkachin ran happily next to him.

It felt like Yuuri was trying to outpace the man on the bike.  His lungs burned for air, and he contemplated stopping to catch his breath.

Then he looked ahead, at the sunny smile on Viktor’s face, and thought about the promise of gold around his neck.  If he stopped now, he’d keep stopping.

He kept running.

 

**6\. Violet Hill - Coldplay**

He looked outside to see snow.

It was still dark outside, but Yuuri stood up to go look anyway.  He shivered from the loss of warmth, and his toes dug into the carpet under him.

The snow fell gently in the pre-dawn light, fluttering around the lampposts and lending and ethereal air to the beauty of St. Petersburg.  There were a few cars driving down the streets, lonely and rumbling through the flakes.

“What’re you thinking?” Viktor’s sleepy voice asked from behind him.

Yuuri turned around to smile at him.  “How much I wouldn’t trade this for anything,” he said, leaning up to give him a kiss.

 

**7\. Heathens - Twenty One Pilots**

Yuri was twelve when he met Viktor Nikiforov for the first time.

The Junior Champion, Russia’s Hero, one of the greatest figure skaters _ever_ , and he was meeting him.  Yuri, though he wouldn’t tell a SOUL on pain of death, was excited.

He stuck a hand out to the silver-haired man and began to speak.  “I am Yuri-”

“Oh!” Viktor exclaimed and reached out.  “You’re adorable!  Yakov!  Yakov!  You didn’t say the new skater was so ADORABLE!”

Yuri scowled and slapped his hand away.  And his hero worship died slowly.

 

**8\. No Light No Light - Florence + The Machine**

Christophe looks at the picture of Viktor kissing his medal and wonders when his friend died.

Not literally, of course.  Viktor was alive and well, but his smile, his _passion_ , wasn’t.  It was concerning, especially for the man who constantly reinvented himself, and Chris was worried.

_What can I do to help you_ , he asks the the photo, and then his coach is knocking on his door asking if he’s ready for the banquet, and he can’t say no.

He gets next to Viktor at the first opportunity and hands the other a flute of champagne.  They sip it silently together, giving smiles and greetings where appropriate, until Chris catches sight of the sixth place skater - Yuuri Katsuki, if he remembers correctly (and he does - he’s kind of scared of his own memory sometimes) - stumbling towards them.

Chris quirks a brow, and glances at Viktor as Katsuki challenges Viktor’s rinkmate Yuri to a dance-off.  The glint in his eyes is back.  Chris smirks and slips out to go get his pole.  The kind of core strength Katsuki possesses _definitely_ means poledancing lessons.

 

**9\. Gasoline - Halsey**

Yuuri stood in the corner of the banquet hall, next to the champagne table.  He felt awful.  He had refused to even go to the exhibition skate, let alone would’ve been able to skate in it, and he really didn’t want to be here either.  Celestino had been the only reason he came.

The other skaters were talking with sponsors and each other, but other than a quick wave at a few people he recognized, he stood mostly alone.  Celestino was with the coaches in the next room, talking.  He’d never know if Yuuri slipped away.

Yuuri looked at the champagne, and sighed before leaving the room.

 

**10\. Lofticries - Purity Ring**

The ring sat heavily on his finger.

Viktor stared at it, a mixed welling of emotion rising through him at it.  Yuuri’s voice, whispering its poison thoughts of ending their relationship, weighed heavily in his mind, and he found himself wiping away tears angrily.

Yuuri wanted to end it.  And for what?  Viktor didn’t know.

He rotated it with his thumb briefly; then, in a burst of anger, ripped it from his finger.  It hurt, but didn’t hold a candle to what his head felt, how his heart ached.

He stared at it.  All his hopes rested in the ring, the culmination of eight months of hard work and hope and he was just so _angry_.

Not at Yuuri.  At himself, he realized with a start.

He thought of Yuuri, sleeping in their room with reddened eyes.  He didn’t want it to end like this.  Didn’t want them to sour what might be their last bit of time together.

He slid the ring back on his finger and walked away.

**Author's Note:**

> Figure I should explain a TINY bit on some of them, since not all of the ficlets take place in the YoI universe.
> 
> 1 - This is a Space Opera AU. I originally wrote this just trying to get something out since I told myself I would write today. It kind of accidentally sparked this whole thing. This is heavily inspired by something else I have in the works, but it's unlikely that it'll go where this one went.
> 
> 9 - What if Yuuri didn't get drunk at the GPF and instead left as soon as Celestino wasn't in the room? Or, more accurately, his thoughts that led to it.
> 
> 10 - Missing scene between the end of Yuuri and Viktor's argument and the next day at the rink.


End file.
